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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 2015)
Cinco de Mayo queen crowned HERMISTON COACH HODGES RETIRES REGION/3A SPORTS/1B 70/42 THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2015 139th Year, No. 140 WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD UMATILLA Tighter rein on strip clubs, pot shops Planning commission unveils new commercial zone rules By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian What started as a complaint about strip clubs has turned into a complete rewriting of Umatil- la’s commercial zoning rules that will change the look of the town. The city’s planning commis- sion voted Tuesday to turn the 90-page rulebook over to the city FRXQFLOIRU¿QDODGRSWLRQZUDS ping up a saga that started in July 2014 with residents voicing their opposition to a third strip club opening in town. The new rules restrict adult entertainment businesses and marijuana dispensaries to the general commercial zones and a newly designated highway commercial zone along Highway 395, both of which are east of Interstate 84 and away from downtown. Current strip clubs Riverside Sports Bar & Lounge and Honey Bunnz Hideout would be grandfathered in as long as they do not change ownership, but the rules would keep new clubs and dispensaries from opening downtown or in McNary. Commission chair Boyd Sharp said even though the project was spurred by concerns about the proliferation of 18-and-older businesses in town, the commission “began to dream” and the result was something that will improve the overall look and feel of Umatilla. “Adult entertainment became very secondary,” he said. The new rules outline stan- dards for six types of commercial zones, starting with a description of the “purpose and intent” of the zone and then outlining which See UMATILLA/12A One dollar Supreme Court to rule on PERS Will decide on changes to cost-of-living increases for 128,000 retirees By PETER WONG Capital Bureau association of growers founded in Hermiston by Fred Ziari, who donate a portion of their harvest every year. John Burt, executive director of Farmers Ending Hunger, said their goal is to increase the supply of high-quality, healthy produce available to Oregonians in need. Partnering with the prison is one way to get more of their product packaged and moved around the state. SALEM — The Oregon Supreme Court is scheduled Thursday to announce its decision in a pair of cases challenging whether Oregon lawmakers can pare cost-of-living increases for public retirees. The court also will decide a pair of challenges to whether lawmakers can take away extra payments for out-of- state retirees not subject to state taxes. The court’s decision, should it over- turn the changes passed in a 2013 special session, will not change the contribution rates that public agencies will be charged by the Public Employees Retirement System in the 2015-17 budget cycle. PERS spokesman David Crosley said the board set the rates last year. But the decision could affect future rates. Six justices will participate in the decision. Justice Jack Landau recused himself from the cases. At issue are two changes made by the Legislature in 2013 to the Public Employees Retirement System, which was created in 1945 and now pays about 128,000 retirees. The system has 925 government employers and covers about 95 percent of all public employees. One change affects cost-of-living LQFUHDVHV ZKLFK ¿UVW FDPH LQWR HIIHFW in 1971, and which were capped at 2 percent annually in 1973. Starting on July 1, 2014, the 2013 ODZDSSOLHVWKHIXOOSHUFHQWWRWKH¿UVW $20,000 of a pension, then 1.5 percent to the next $20,000, 1 percent to the next $20,000, and .25 percent above $60,000. 7KHUDWHIRUZDVD¿[HG percent. The other change affects the extra payment lawmakers granted to retirees in 1991, after the state taxed public pensions in line with a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The change denies the extra payment to out-of-state retirees who do not pay Oregon taxes. The changes are projected to pare the system’s future liability by $5.3 billion over the next few decades. In the current two-year budget cycle, governments are expected to save $800 million, and in 2015-17, $1 billion — unless the court reverses them. Lawmakers in 2013 allowed for legal challenges to go directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the circuit court and Court of Appeals. Public employee unions, and two out-of-state retirees, challenged both See POTATOES/7A See PERS/12A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Inmates bag up loose potatoes at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution on Monday in Pendleton. The potatoes will be distributed to food pantries via CAPECO throughout Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties. Inmates sort homegrown donation EOCI packs potatoes for local food bank By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Umatilla and Morrow county farmers rank ¿UVWDQGWKLUGUHVSHFWLYHO\LQJURZLQJIUHVK vegetables statewide. With a little help from prison labor, more of that food could be kept locally to feed hungry families. Inmates at Pendleton’s Eastern Oregon &RUUHFWLRQDO ,QVWLWXWLRQ ¿QLVKHG 0RQGD\ bagging 20,000 pounds of potatoes donated by Hale Farms in Echo, which will be distrib- uted to food pantries served by CAPECO as the regional food bank for Umatilla, Morrow, Agriculture Today From the unmanned aircraft taking temperature readings in the skies above Hermiston to a deadly fungus threatening Florida’s avocado crop, agriculture touches everyone’s lives. In today’s edition, beginning with this front page story and continuing on pages 7A-10A, we explore the current state of crops and livestock both domestic and abroad. Gilliam and Wheeler counties. Workers on the EOCI crew spent several GD\V VRUWLQJ VSXGV DQG ¿OOLQJ XS SRXQG sacks, said Jackie Peck, assistant to the prison superintendent. From there, the bags were loaded onto trucks and delivered to CAPECO for the 2015 annual Governor’s Food Drive. Though the prison has long supported the Governor’s Food Drive, Peck said they felt they could take on a greater supply of bulk goods for the Oregon Food Bank. They reached out to Farmers Ending Hunger, an Powwow jingle dancer wins world title By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Photo courtesy of Acosia Red Elk Acosia Red Elk competes at the Gather- ing of Nations powwow in Albequerque, New Mexico. Red Elk won the Jingle Dancing division for the eighth time. A Pendleton powwow dancer has won her eighth world jingle dancing title. Acosia Red Elk, a registered member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, didn’t decide to compete at the world’s largest powwow until two days before she started driving to the Gath- ering of Nations in New Mexico. The event began last Friday in Albuquerque. On the previous Monday, Red Elk decided she simply had to dance. The problem was, she only had one of two dresses for the jingle dancing competition. She retreated to her studio and began “It’s expressive — a lot like an Irish river dancer. It’s all footwork. You keep your upper body fi rm. You glide all over the ground.” — Acosia Red Elk sewing. “I laid out the material and started cutting,” Red Elk said. “Twelve hours later, I had a dress.” Last Wednesday, Red Elk got into a friend’s Jeep and headed to Albuquerque. Red Elk is something of a rock star in the powwow world. 6KHZRQ¿YHEDFNWREDFNZRUOG championships at Gathering of Nations from 2004 to 2008. She prevailed again in 2011 and 2014. Three years (2010, 2012 and 2013), she didn’t compete. In 2009, she took fourth. This year, the 35-year-old arrived at University of New Mexico’s massive Wisepies Arena, known as “The Pit,” and prepared to dance. Her chosen style, jingle dancing, has changed over the decades. The dance started as a prayer of healing that originated with the Ojibwe Tribe in the Great Lakes area. Traditional jingle dancers do a See RED ELK/12A
